Director Jay Roach Talks THE CAMPAIGN, His Fascination with Elections, the Challenges of Cutting Down a 3.5 Hour Rough Cut, and More

Last week, Warner Bros. invited us to attend the press junket for The Campaign. The R-rated comedy stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two politicians who keep finding hilarious new lows in order to win a district election in North Carolina. For more on the film, click here for all of our previous coverage.

During my on-camera interview with director Jay Roach, we talked about his fascination with elections, the movie’s element of satire in a big broad comedy, the length of the film’s first cut, the challenges of cutting so much great material, and his potential future projects including the Steve Carell comedy Brigadier Gerard, and a serious film about Nikita Khrushchev‘s visit to the United States. Hit the jump to check out the interview, click here for my interview with Ferrell and Galifianakis, and click here for my interview with Dylan McDermott. The Campaign opens Friday.

Jay Roach

0:19 – What he finds fascinating about elections as opposed to other parts of the political process.

1:00 – How the film does have an element of satire, but how it’s more of a broad comedy, and why they chose politics as the arena for these characters.

2:16 – The length of the film’s first cut.

2:44 – The challenges of deciding what material to cut.

3:33 – Other projects he’s currently developing, including the Steve Carell comedy Brigadier Gerard, and a serious film about Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to the United States.